I began my career at JMU in 2008 as an Assistant Professor of Public Policy & Administration in the Department of Political Science. Prior to this role, I worked in commercial real estate development for several years, as well as positions in local government, public policy, and consulting organizations. While at JMU, I've enjoyed serving in various positions including Director of the nationally accredited Master in Public Administration Program, Founder and Director of the Madison Center for Community Development, and Associate Vice Provost of Research and Scholarship. I enthusiastically joined JMU's Outreach and Engagement as Associate Dean in 2017 and I continue to serve as a core faculty member in the Master in Public Administration Program. I have a Doctorate Degree in Public Policy, a Masters Degree in Public Administration, and an Undergraduate Degree in Political Science.

In my role as Associate Dean, I manage and lead the Madison Center for Community Development; Manage JMU's Year in Service and Engagement Fellowship Program; Coordinate Scholarship of Engagement initiatives including journal publications, conference presentations, develop and disseminate high need, on-demand community-based research, and build relationships with faculty and academic units to promote community-based engagement services. In partnership with the Dean, I manage O&E's economic development efforts locally, regionally, and state-wide, and develop and provide consulting services; help provide leadership for graduate degree and certificate programs; and serve as a member of O&E's leadership team, where I represent JMU and O&E with a variety iof internal and external groups.

My passion is community engagement and my job as Associate Dean enables me to better connect JMU students, faculty and staff to a variety of stakeholders at the local, regional, state and national levels. I spend a lot of my time identifying and developing partnership opportunities that are linked to academic programming. Providing community engagement activities, like applied academic coursework, internships, graduate assistantships, training, or fellowships, helps JMU achieve our mission of "preparing students to be educated and enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives."